Dennis Slayton, Brodheadsville builder, pleads no contest to two charges

Saturday

Mar 4, 2006 at 12:01 AM

STROUDSBURG — Embattled Brodheadsville builder Dennis Slayton reached a plea deal Friday on one of set of charges against him, stemming from a physical confrontation with prosecutors last year during a preliminary hearing on home-sale theft allegations.

DAVID PIERCE

STROUDSBURG — Embattled Brodheadsville builder Dennis Slayton reached a plea deal Friday on one of set of charges against him, stemming from a physical confrontation with prosecutors last year during a preliminary hearing on home-sale theft allegations.

Slayton pleaded "no contest" to one count each of disorderly conduct and harassment, then was sentenced by Judge Arthur Zulick to serve 15 days in jail, pay a $300 fine and pay court costs. Zulick ruled that Slayton, who has been jailed at the Monroe County Correctional Facility since January on a bail violation in the theft case, can apply that jail time to his sentence.

Slayton was charged with shoving Assistant District Attorney Christopher Jones and county detective Eric Kerchner last Aug. 10 during Slayton's original preliminary hearing in Brodheadsville on the theft charges.

The incident took place when Jones and Slayton tried to squeeze through a doorway out of the hearing room of Magisterial District Judge Debby York. A large crowd of spectators was exiting to the lobby so they could view a heated argument between Slayton's defense attorney, John P. Karoly, Jr., and First Assistant District Attorney Mike Mancuso. Detective Kerchner ran to Jones' assistance.

York then withdrew from presiding over the theft case, which was assigned to Magisterial District Judge Joan Hausman.

County prosecutors also charged Slayton with two counts each of aggravated assault, a felony, and simple assault, a misdemeanor, but those charges were dropped as part of the plea deal. The state Attorney General's Office assumed responsibility, at the county's request, for prosecuting the assault case.

The scheduled 9 a.m. hearing was delayed more than 90 minutes as Senior Deputy Attorney General John Flannery and Karoly met privately to negotiate the deal and briefed Zulick on developments.

Slayton told the judge he understands all the implications of pleading no contest to disorderly conduct and harassment, and that by doing so, Slayton limits the grounds for any appeal. Karoly said his client made the deal to avoid the uncertainty of trial, but that Slayton doesn't admit to any illegal conduct.

"My client does not agree to the recitation of events," Karoly said, adding that a "rude exit" took place as numerous people tried to leave York's hearing room simultaneously.

"This all occurred in a period of less than five or six seconds and in a doorway as people were trying to exit into a lobby," Karoly said. "Mr. Slayton is free to leave the room like anyone else."

Flannery said the plea speaks for itself.

"It is an indication that at least something occurred in that courtroom that should not have occurred," Flannery said. "We can stand here and argue back and forth what the facts are. We have something on the record now."

Karoly said the agreement called for no jail time, just a fine, but Zulick said he has authority to determine what's appropriate. The judge said it is important to send a message that decorum must prevail at court proceedings.

"I think it appropriate that some sort of incarceration be imposed," Zulick said.

He issued two 15-day sentences, but said the sentences are to be served concurrently. Zulick agreed that Slayton is entitled to apply his current jail time on a bail violation to the harassment and disorderly conduct sentence, since the bail violation is connected to the theft case and not to his bail on the preliminary hearing confrontation.

Slayton's $50,000 bail in the theft case was revoked after Slayton walked out of his second preliminary hearing last September and disappeared into woods near the Marshalls Creek hearing room. Slayton failed to appear the next day for court-ordered drug testing and Zulick eventually issued a warrant for Slayton's arrest.

Slayton was apprehended in November in New Jersey and remained there until resolution of vehicle and drug charges in the Garden State. He was brought back to Monroe County in January, when Zulick ruled that Slayton must forfeit his bail in the theft case and remain in jail pending resolution of those charges.

Following Friday's hearing, Karoly said he was happy to resolve the assault case now while awaiting a Superior Court hearing next month on an appeal of the bail revocation.

"He's there for another 15 days anyway," Karoly said. "It would be silly to put this off."

Karoly, who himself was criminally charged last month with conspiring to help Slayton elude capture while he was a fugitive, contends the initial charges against Slayton stemming from the confrontation carried combined sentences of more than 60 years.

"It was more than 60 years in prison and now it's 15 days he would have to serve anyway, and he still maintains his innocence," Karoly said. "You decide if the district attorney charged him appropriately."

Monroe County District Attorney David Christine scoffed at the notion Slayton would have served anything approaching the years in prison recounted by Karoly.

"I'm satisfied with the way the Attorney General's Office handled this case," Christine said. "I look forward to the prosecution of Mr. Slayton on the fraud charges and also the prosecution of charges against Mr. Karoly."

Slayton, owner of Clearview Builders, is charged with 52 counts of theft for allegedly pocketing payments from 26 sets of home buyers without doing the promise construction.

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